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Missionaries And Cannibals Problem





THE PROBLEM

The setup is generally as follows: a number of missionaries and a number of cannibals stand on the bank of a river. There is a boat available which can ferry up to two people across. The problem is that, if at any point the cannibals outnumber the missionaries on either bank, the cannibals will eat the missionaries. The goal is to find a schedule for ferrying all the cannibals and all the missionaries safely across the river.


SOLUTION

One solution (the three numbers representing the number of missionaries, cannibals, and boats on the near bank) is as follows:

331, 310, 321, 300, 311, 110, 221, 020, 031, 010, 021, 000


VARIATIONS

  • The Politically Correct version of the problem is given with wolves and sheep as the subjects.

  • A much less politically correct version is often told as a variety of Ethnic Joke , with one putatively dangerous group of people (for example, Italian men) preying on a helpless group (for example, virtuous French maids).

  • Other variations include more than two different types of player. In one variation, there is a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage on one side; the wolf will eat the goat if unattended, and the goat will eat the cabbage.



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